Vietnam’s gifted female boxers

NDO – Female boxer Nguyen Thi Tam is one of the bright young faces in Vietnamese martial arts that have made significant imprints as well as gained the highest medals in the international arena.

In recent years, there have been many famous female boxers, such as Luu Thi Duyen, Ha Thi Linh, and Le Thi Bang. However, with her outstanding achievements, Nguyen Thi Tam has attracted the greatest attention from the fans. She was the only female boxer to bring home a historic gold medal for Vietnam in the 51kg weight category at the Asian Women’s Boxing Championships 2017.

Ten years ago when Tam was 14 years old, she began her sporting career when she applied for training courses with the People's Police Sports Team to become a track-and-field athlete. However, after her try-out the coaches said that she was not best suited to athletics.

After a while, Tam was encouraged by a coach from her hometown in Thai Binh province to try training as a boxer in Hanoi. She said, “At that time, I decided to pursue this sport, but my parents were not pleased because for them, boxing was a very dangerous sport that was unsuitable for girls like me.” However, her parents decided to respect her great passion.

During the first days of training at Quan Ngua Sports Palace in Hanoi back in 2009, the physical exercises put Tam in high spirits. As she recalls, “Beginning technical practise, I had to get used to resisting attacks, which caused me pain. Therefore, I intended to give up. Luckily, the coaches encouraged and helped me to overcome the fear.”

Coach Nguyen Nhu Cuong discovered Tam’s ability and determination, so he advised leaders of Hanoi municipal sports department to make a huge investment in her. She learnt the basic skills from Cuban experts and was instructed in the more in-depth techniques by coaches from Thailand and the Philippines. Since 2016, Tam has gained numerous impressive achievements in domestic tournaments. However, she properly announced her talents with the gold medal at the Asian Women’s Boxing Championships 2017. This great success has become an important milestone in her career.

Nguyen Thi Tam was the only representative of Vietnam’s female boxing to be honoured at a meeting held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for the most outstanding coaches and athletes in 2017. She and her coaches set a target of reaching the highest possible achievement at the 2018 Asian Games (ASIAD 2018), seeking the opportunity to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.

Head of the boxing category under the General Department of Sports and Physical Training Vu Duc Thinh said that, in preparation for ASIAD 2018, Tam and some other female boxers were receiving training from an expert from Thailand. Relevant agencies are creating the most favourable conditions for athletes to practise their skills, he added.